KT&G said on the 7th that first-quarter operating profit rose 27.7% from a year earlier to 364.5 billion won. Revenue for the period increased 14.3% to 1.7036 trillion won, and net profit rose 46.6% to 378.2 billion won.
Strong overseas combustible cigarette business drove the results. Overseas combustible cigarette revenue rose 24.6% from a year earlier to 559.6 billion won, helped by higher sales volumes in key regions such as Asia-Pacific and Eurasia and by price hikes. Operating profit increased 56.1%.
Revenue from the e-cigarette business also climbed 51.5% from a year earlier to 241 billion won, as domestic and overseas growth combined with a base effect from past overseas device supply chain issues.
In the institutional sector of health functional foods, revenue rose 5.8% to 332.6 billion won and operating profit jumped 53.3% to 27.9 billion won, driven by Lunar New Year promotions and brand campaigns such as "Cheonnok" and "Everytime."
KT&G is pushing to expand its nutrition (nutrition products for exercise) business. Early this month, it established a dedicated center and plans to ramp up its overseas push through business-to-business (B2B) transactions in red ginseng raw materials with corporations.
It is also strengthening shareholder return policies. KT&G last month canceled all of about 10.87 million treasury shares, equivalent to 9.5% of total shares outstanding, worth 1.8516 trillion won. In the second half, it plans to unveil a new shareholder return policy centered on strengthening dividends.